It is the height of absurdity to believe that the same organization that feels it is proper to hold meetings in restaurants that have been found to have engaged in wage theft can be counted on to deal fairly with employees claiming wage theft or other forms of worker abuse.

According to Perez, Seattle “has had the highest minimum wage in the country over the last twelve years, and they have no tipped credit… If the opponents were correct, then every time you fly to Seattle, you ought to bring a bagged lunch, because all the restaurants should be going out of business.”

“An increase in the sub minimum wage would benefit women, men, families and the economy as a whole,” said Deborah Norman, owner of Rue De L’Espoir and Rue Bis, “I wanted to reach out personally as a restaurant owner and explain why I am confident that my restaurants could absorb a reasonable rate increase without a negative impact to my business.”

“This issue speaks to how we believe society should be shaped. Do we believe that our citizens deserve equal treatment and deserve full equality, or do we believe that there is a second tier that women, increasingly, belong to?”

Governor Gina Raimondo came out in support of bills in the General Assembly that would raise the minimum wage in Rhode Island to $10.10 an hour. “Nobody who works full time should have to live in poverty,” said Raimondo, even as she acknowledge that raising the wage to $10.10 won’t be enough.

“I probably shouldn’t say this,” says Debbie, “but the owner pays me for 40 hours and then I get the rest in cash. Time and a half has never happened. Every restaurant I’ve ever worked at that’s how it always was. You get paid for 40 hours and then everything else is over time, not on a paycheck.”

“The fact is that the people who work for tips in Rhode Island use public assistance at a rate twice that of any other employee,” says Mike Araujo of ROC United RI, “Of the 20,000 people who work for tips in Rhode Island we’re talking about 10,000 who are on assistance. Clearly, every penny counts to these people.

“There’s already massive movement towards technology that will eliminate the need for labor,” said Bob Bacon of Gregg’s Restaurants, “In many restaurants now you have touch pads. Guess what’s next? Pretty soon you’re placing your order on that thing and it’s going to take ten less people to serve you your dinner.”